I took my 2001 A4 out today and everything was fine for the first mile
or so. Then I started to hear a whine that got progressively louder.
At the same time the transmission seem to become more an more
unresponsive and the car would really have to rev to move.

When I pulled over and looked under the car I saw huge amounts of
transmission fluid on the road. What would cause this? The seals
around the transmission pan seem solid. Would this be a broken hose
somewhere?

Hopefully I stopped before any serious damage was done.

Simon

 

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 13:34:10 -0700 (PDT), Smokin <shfraser@gmail.com> wrote:

>I took my 2001 A4 out today and everything was fine for the first mile
>or so. Then I started to hear a whine that got progressively louder.
>At the same time the transmission seem to become more an more
>unresponsive and the car would really have to rev to move.
>
>When I pulled over and looked under the car I saw huge amounts of
>transmission fluid on the road. What would cause this? The seals
>around the transmission pan seem solid. Would this be a broken hose
>somewhere?
>
>Hopefully I stopped before any serious damage was done.
>
>Simon

There are flexible couplings in at least two locations on the plumbing between
the auto-trannie and the radiator. Perhaps one of those has failed (actually,
that might be something to hope for, because any other cause is likely going
to be much more costly to repair).

In any case, it shouldn't be difficult to find the source of such a profuse
leak once you get under the vehicle, either on jack stands or on a lift.